身體作為跨學科研究對象

http://www.blankspacestudiohk.com/2015-162418024230-39376225803426934899234782145031574236373533621123.html

曾經有一段時間，我們認為在舞台上的身體應該完全臣服於劇本。十八世紀的舞台身體是符號身體（semiotic body），演員身體表現的自我痕跡必須完全被除掉，它是表達文字劇本的工具。身體的「去身體化」定義舞台身體的價值。

曾經有一後時間，我們認為需要以自身經驗建立與角色的關聯，所以有斯坦尼斯拉夫斯基體系、或美派方法演技（Method acting），甚或梅耶荷德的N=A1 + A2方程式。演員要「演活」角色，以自己的真實存在成就一個虛擬存在的合理性。

到了世界被接連的戰爭弄得殘破不堪，我們轉向關注主體如何存在於世界之中，重新強調身體作為現象（phenomenal body）。Mary Wigman 以表現主義重建在大戰後被踐踏殆盡的個人價值。自1960年代前衛藝術思潮的生發開始，身體成為了眾多重要思考的實踐場域。Jerzy Grotowski強調「我與我的本質體共生」。Lucinda Childs 或 Yvonne Rainer的極簡主義中的舞台，重點只在身體。思想與身體的二元論不再超然於一切地成立。而東方的表演藝術，不論是中國戲曲、峇里舞蹈、能劇、歌舞伎、kathakali等等，從傳統下來一直強調以內在的「意」，貫穿全身才形之於外，身體就是全部，total。

在差不多同一時期，德國及美國的學術界意識到表演研究（performance studies）需要在跨學科層面進行。雖然這意識正好反映了知識區隔（knowledge compartmentalization）及知識份子身份等問題，但其中重要的訊息是我們承認了舞台身體並不可能存在於社會大環境之外。我們的身體，滿載文化印記；要了解在表演中不能或缺的身體，出發點可以是社會學、人類學、哲學、媒體學、文化研究、生物力學……

在香港，我們的表演藝術有其獨特的「純粹性」：表演的概念想象、舞台構思、專才訓練、評論研究，都在表演藝術圈內發生。我們明白「身體作為現象」的理念，我們擅長其使用方式，但我們未能深入剖析現象的內涵。身體好不容易才走到能憑藉其本身特質出現在當代劇場的舞台上，再往前走，它需要變得更明澄、更立體、更豐富、更……當代。

在策劃是次計劃的文化思考部分時，我視所有參與的表演藝術工作者同時為研究員及研究對象。他們表達其關注事件的劇場手法，將會向各觀察員及嘉賓揭示他們的身體文化痕跡。長遠來說，我期望這種揭示引起不同學科的研究員的關注，讓表演研究在本地學術界漸漸找到應有的位置。

乙未年立秋之後

The body as an inter-disciplinary research object

There had been a time when we believed that bodies on the stage served nothing but the written script. In the 18th century, everything hinting at the actors’ bodily being had to be eradicated. The “semiotic body” was the ideal tool for expressing the text.

There had been a time when we believed that we should draw on our own experiences when “playing” a character. From that belief developed Stanislavski’s System, or Method Acting in the US, and the Meyerhold formula N=A1 + A2. Actors rationalized the verisimilitude of fictive characters with their very living bodies.

Then the wars crushed the world. We began to wonder how to relate our identity to the now shattered society, in which we used to exist without giving it a second thought. The presence of the phenomenal body caught our attention. Mary Wigman’s expressionistic dance is an individuality outcry. Since the avant-garde movement in the 1960’s, the body has become a practice ground of ideologies. Jerzy Grotowski advocated “the doubling of being a body and having a body.” Body takes the minimalistic center stage of that of Lucinda Childs’ or Yvonne Rainer’s. The duality of mind and body is no longer truer than everything else. On the other end of the globe, oriental performances, be it Chinese Xiqu, Balinese dance, Noh, Kabuki, or Kathakali, has its emphasis on the “intention” (yi) that travels through the entire body before it finds its way to expression. The body is the total.

Parallel to the artistic explorations was the awareness to the interdisciplinary academic potential of performance studies in the US and Germany. While this inevitably reminds one of the criticism to knowledge compartmentalization and the definition of intellectuals, it is also a recognition of the body on the stage as a continuation of the body in the living environment. Our bodies are tattooed with traces of our culture. The departure point to make sense out of the body, which is the critical component of the bodily co-existence in a performance, lies possibly somewhere in sociology, anthropology, philosophy, media studies, cultural studies, bio-mechanics……..
In Hong Kong, our performance arts follows a peculiar “pureness”: the concepts, stage representations, training, critique and research start and end within the performance art field. We comprehend conceptually what a “phenomenal body” is, we are skillful with its deployment, but we are yet to delve into what lies beneath the “phenomenon.” It has taken a long while for the body to exist in its own right on the contemporary stage. To secure its position, it should become more transparent, more shapely, more resourceful, and more……contemporary. 

I regard the participating artists in this project both researchers and research objects when planning the “cultural contemplation” in this project. How these artists tackle the theater issues that interest them will reveal to us the cultural traces embedded in their behavior, their bodies. In the long-run, I wish that such revelation will interest researchers across various knowledge areas, so that performance studies will gradually gain traction in the academic circle in Hong Kong.